Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night
by ohmyhotch
Summary: A Christmas Party at Rossi's! But Rossi's acting strangely, and JJ is intent on figuring out why. Written for the Christmas Gift Fic Exchange on CCOAC for hot4booth


**Reasons I fail at life: I'm getting this up so late -_- My family decided we were going to be at my grandparent's house ALL DAY so I didn't have time to finish up this first chapter before now. **

**This will be a two-shot :)**

**Written for the CCOAC Christmas Gift Fic Exchange 2011, for hot4booth. My prompts were Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, jingle bells, Christmas tree, Christmas stocking; with Rossi/JJ as the pairing. **

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><p>Jennifer Jareau sighed as she glanced out the window one more time. Still snowing. Hard. How was she supposed to make it to Rossi's in this weather? After all the work Penelope had gone to: convincing Hotch throwing a Christmas party wasn't a bad idea, then convincing everyone to come, planning <em>every<em> detail... well, JJ didn't want to risk missing this, and disappointing her friend.

"Mommy? When are we gonna go see Uncle Rossi?" Henry asked, waddling up to her, his snow-gear impeding his regular speed.

JJ smiled down at her son, and lifted him off the ground. _Three months _she thought. It had been three months since Will had left, with no indication of where he was going. No sign of interest in seeing his now former fiancee and son again. Three months Henry had been asking where his father was, with JJ having to reply with a grimace and an honest 'I don't know,'. Three months of nothing but support from the team. Rossi in particular had been incredibly gracious. Not to say that the others hadn't, they had... but Rossi had gone out of his way to make sure the two of them had everything they needed. It was a debt JJ felt she would never be able to repay.

"We're going to go right now," she resolved aloud. She wasn't going to let anyone down, particularly Henry. Sure, the weather was bad... but it honestly wasn't that far to Rossi's house. _Mansion..._ JJ corrected internally with a smile.

A smile immediately spread across the boy's face at her words. "Really? Hooray!"

"Yes, really. My silly boy," she laughed, kissing his nose. He was always so happy. Even when considering the fact that his father had left him. JJ attributed some of that to the fact that he was simply too young to know better, but there was no denying it. Her son was simply joyful. Happy to be alive. It was something she loved thinking about. With all the darkness she was nearly constantly surrounded by, Henry was her light.

She pulled her keys from her coat pocket, and walked out the front door, locking it behind her. The warmth of the breath the two of them were emitting caused small puffs of water vapor to appear in the air in front of them, before disappearing moments later. Snow was falling. The flakes were large, but there was no denying the beauty of them. Even though they made driving a terrifying experience, equal to that of taking down an armed serial killer. _JJ. It's Christmas. No comparing normal life to work._ JJ stepped forward, wanting to get to the car as quickly as possible. This was one of those days she was eternally grateful for the fact she had a remote starter, because as she opened the back door to buckle Henry in, she was greeted with a burst of warm air in her face. So, even if she did get in an accident on the way to Rossi's, at least her fingers wouldn't be frozen to the steering wheel. She rolled her eyes at the subtle attempt at humor, and closed the back door, before climbing into the front seat, putting the car into gear, and pulling away from the house.

It didn't take long to get to Rossi's, and miraculously, it was uneventful. Okay, maybe she'd hit black ice once or twice, but it hadn't been too much of an issue. After unbuckling Henry, and locking the car, she trudged up the sidewalk. It was apparently someone had attempted to shovel the snow off it already, but with the rate the crystals were falling, it wasn't surprising that it had piled up again. There was a sign on the door welcoming her (and any other invited guests) to walk right in, to not bother with ringing the doorbell and waiting in the frosty night for someone to answer.

As JJ entered the house it was apparent she was the last one to arrive. She quickly removed Henry's coat and boots, exchanging them for more casual shoes, letting him run off to play with Jack. After she pulled off her own coat, she hurried off to find the others.

"Hey Jayje!" Emily greeted with a smile. "We were worried you weren't coming,"

"You think I'd risk missing it?" JJ laughed. "I'd never get Penelope off my back,"

"Good point," Em nodded. "I'd be afraid to miss it, too. _Just _because of her,"

"Exactly,"

"Attention everyone!" Rossi called, entering the room from the kitchen. "I've just been informed that the last of us have arrived, so... I believe it's time for our gift exchange,"

JJ rolled her eyes as he winked subtly across the room. He was _not_ acting like himself, but for the moment she chose to ignore that. Everyone huddled together in a circle on the floor, and one by one exchanged gifts to their 'Secret Santa'. JJ was convinced that the fact that Rossi had her was rigged, but again, she wasn't saying anything.

After a lot of joking, teasing, and general laughter it was her turn to give a gift. She'd received Garcia. JJ smiled and pulled the unwrapped gift from behind her back. "You said Rudolph was your favorite Christmas movie, and I really didn't have too much time to shop, but I got you a Rudolph plush," she shrugged, feeling pathetic after the other gifts.

"I love it, JJ. I'll cherish it forever," Garcia declared, snatching the toy from JJ's hands.

"I'm glad," she nodded, sighing in relief. Leave it to Garcia to love any gift.

"I think we should take a break. The boys are getting restless," Hotch noted, glancing at the squirming Jack and Henry.

"I agree. And what better chance to decorate the tree," Rossi grinned. It seemed particularly suspicious to JJ, but before she could say anything, Morgan jumped up, and laughed.

"Only if I get to put the star on top,"


End file.
